Method and apparatus for activating a function of an electronic device

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for activating a function of the electronic device is disclosed herewith. The method includes detecting a first input by a motion sensor. Further, the method activates a touch sensor of the electronic device in response to detecting the first input. The method then detects a second input by the motion sensor within a predetermined time period from the first input. Next, the method determines, in response to detecting the second input, whether contact has occurred at the touch sensor and activates a function of the electronic device in response to determining that contact has occurred at the touch sensor when the second input is detected.

This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 12/970,763,filed on Dec. 16, 2010, the entire content of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Electronic devices, including mobile phones and other portable devices,are increasingly being upgraded with improvised applications andfunctionalities. For example, a mobile phone may include atouch-sensitive screen that enables one to interact directly with whatis displayed, rather than indirectly with a cursor controlled by a mouseor a touchpad. The touch-sensitive screen can sense fingers, hands, andpassive devices such as stylus. Thus, the touch-sensitive screen can beused to activate a function of the electronic device.

In the present systems, activating a function of the electronic devicesby a double tap using an accelerometer has been proposed for many mobilephones. However, in existing conventional systems, extensive studies infeature prototype have shown that it is extremely difficult to achievelow falsing in certain cases, such as, while the mobile phone is inpocket, car cradle, etc. In other words, falsing is hard to overcome incertain cases, for example, in the car cradle, because the accelerometeralone cannot distinguish finger tap and periodic motion generated from arough road.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for activating afunction of the electronic device on detecting a real double tap andthus avoiding falsing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated inand form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrateembodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explainvarious principles and advantages of those embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the electronic device in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method in accordance with some embodiments.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements inthe figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help toimprove understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

The apparatus and method components have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before describing in detail the particular method and system foractivating a function of an electronic device, in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure, it should be observed that thepresent disclosure resides primarily in combinations of method steps andapparatus components related to the method and system for activating thefunction of the electronic device. Accordingly, the apparatus componentsand method steps have been represented where appropriate by conventionalsymbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that arepertinent to understanding the present disclosure, so as not to obscurethe disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art, having the benefit of the description herein.

An electronic device and a method of activating a function of theelectronic device are disclosed herewith. The method includes detectinga first input by a motion sensor. Further, the method activates a touchsensor of the electronic device in response to detecting the firstinput. The method then detects a second input by the motion sensorwithin a predetermined time period from the first input. Next, themethod determines, in response to detecting the second input, whethercontact has occurred at the touch sensor and activates a function of theelectronic device in response to determining that contact has occurredat the touch sensor when the second input is detected.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram 100 of an electronic device 102 in accordancewith an embodiment. The depicted electronic device 102 may beimplemented as a mobile device, such as a cellular or mobile phone,which represents a wide variety of devices that have been developed foruse within various communication networks. Although the electronicdevice is shown as a wireless communication device, the electronicdevice 102 may be a cellular telephone, a messaging device, a mobiledata terminal, a computer (laptop, desktop, hand-held, etc.), a personaldigital assistant (with or without a wireless connection), a gamingconsole, or a wide variety of electronic devices with graphical userinterfaces and physical buttons/keys. Any of these portable devices maybe referred to as a mobile station, user equipment, or the like.

The block diagram 100 of the electronic device 102 includes variouscomponents. The exemplary components includes a display 104, amicrocontroller 106, a memory 108, and one or more transceivers 110which may be capable of receiving signals from multiple antennas andfrom various networks. In accordance with the embodiment, the display104 is coupled to the microcontroller 106. The display 104 is atouch-sensitive display. The display 104 may display various images orobjects, such as a set of icons.

In accordance with the embodiment, the microcontroller 106 may becoupled to the transceiver 110, the memory 108, and the display 104.However, it is to be understood that one or more of these components maybe combined or integrated in a common component, or a componentsfeatures may be distributed among multiple components. Also, thecomponents of the electronic device 102 may be connected differently,such as bypassing the microcontroller, without departing from the scopeof the invention. The microcontroller 106 operates in conjunction withthe data and instructions stored in the memory 108 to control theoperation of the electronic device 102. The microcontroller 106 may beimplemented as a processor, a digital signal processor, hard-wired logicand analog circuitry, or any suitable combination of these.

In accordance with the embodiment, the memory 108 is coupled to themicrocontroller 108 to store data and instructions for the operation ofthe microcontroller 106. In one embodiment, the memory 108 includesbuffers for storing data. In the various embodiments, the memory 108 maybe one or more separate components and/or may be partitioned in variousways for various purposes such as but not limited to, optimizing memoryallocations, etc. Thus it is to be understood that the exemplary memory108 illustrated in FIG. 1 are for illustrative purposes only, for thepurpose of explaining and assisting one of ordinary skill inunderstanding the various embodiments described herein.

In accordance with the embodiment, the transceiver 110 coupled to themicrocontroller 106 enables the electronic device 102 to transmit andreceive the RF signals through an antenna (not shown). In accordancewith the embodiment, the transceiver 110 converts the RF signalsreceived from the antenna (not shown) to digital data for use by themicrocontroller 106.

It is to be understood that FIG. 1 is for illustrative purposes only andis primarily for, although not solely for, explaining the informationstored in memory for the various embodiments of an electronic device inaccordance with the present disclosure, and is not intended to be acomplete schematic diagram of the various components and connectionsthere between required for an electronic device. Therefore, anelectronic device will comprise various other components not shown inFIG. 1, and/or have various other configurations internal and external,and still be within the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of various components of an electronicdevice 102, or a portion of the components thereof. The electronicdevice 102 may include a motion sensor 202, a touch sensor 204, aproximity sensor 206, a microcontroller 208, an application processor210, electronic connectors 212, 214, 216, and an Inter-IntegratedCircuit (I2C) bus 218.

The motion sensor 202 is a device that is sensitive to movement. Forexample, if a finger or a stylus is tapped over a display 104 of theelectronic device 102 with some force, the motion sensor 202 detects therespective movement of the electronic device 102. In one example, themotion sensor 202 is an accelerometer that measures acceleration. Moreprecisely, as soon as the motion sensor 202 detects an input, i.e., anymovement of the electronic device, for example, a finger tap event, themotion sensor 202 turns on the touch sensor 204 which then monitorstouch event on the display 104.

In one example, the motion sensor 202 interrupts the microcontroller 208on receiving a motion input and the microcontroller 208 activates thetouch sensor 204. Thus, the touch sensor 204 may be activated onreceiving a command from the microcontroller 208, which receives theinterrupt signal from the motion sensor 202 indicating that a motionevent has occurred at the electronic device 104. In such a case, motionsensor 202 is connected to the touch sensor 204 via the microcontroller208. In another example, the motion sensor 202 directly activates orturns on the touch sensor 204. In this case, the motion sensor 202 isdirectly connected to the touch sensor 204.

The proximity sensor 206 is a sensor that is able to detect the presenceof nearby objects without any physical contact. The proximity sensor 206emits an electromagnetic or electrostatic field, or a beam ofelectromagnetic radiation (infrared, for instance), and looks forchanges in the field or return signal. The proximity sensor 206 may beused to prevent the display 104 from being activated or turned on if theelectronic device 102 is in a pocket.

The motion sensor 202, the touch sensor 204, and the proximity sensor206 are connected to the microcontroller 208 via the electronicconnectors 212, 214, and 216 respectively. The microcontroller 208serves as a sensor hub for the various sensors, for example, motionsensor 202, touch sensor 204, and the proximity sensor 206. When themotion sensor 202 detects a tap event, the microcontroller 208 turns onthe touch sensor 204 and the proximity sensor 206 and begins storingdata in the buffers (not shown) of the memory 108 of the electronicdevice 102. The memory 108 includes two buffers (not shown), atouch-data buffer and a proximity-data buffer. The touch-data buffer isused to store the data associated with the touch sensor 204 and theproximity-data buffer is used to store the data associated withproximity sensor 206.

The microcontroller 208 is also connected to the application processor210 via an I2C bus 218. The I2C bus 218 is a bi-directional two-wireserial bus that provides a communication link between integratedcircuits (ICs). For example, the I2C bus 218 provides a communicationlink between the microcontroller 208 and the application processor 210.The application processor 210 processes data received from themicrocontroller 208 and performs basic functions related to theelectronic device 102.

Operationally, when the motion sensor 202 detects a first tap input, themotion sensor 202 interrupts the microcontroller 208 via an electricalconnector (not shown). The interrupt function may be implemented in avariety of ways. For example, the interrupt capability may be providedvia one or more dedicated lines separate from the electronic connectors212, 214, 216. In response to this, the microcontroller 208 activatesthe touch sensor 204 and proximity sensor 206 via the electricalconnectors 214 and 216 respectively. In addition, the microcontroller208 also instructs the touch data buffer and the proximity data bufferin the memory 108 to store data associated with the touch sensor 204 andthe proximity sensor 206. The motion sensor 202 then detects a secondtap input within a predetermined time after receiving the first tapinput. In one example, the predetermined time is, but not limited to,200-500 milliseconds.

On detecting the second tap input within the predetermined time from thefirst tap input, the microcontroller 208 reads the buffered data storedin the touch data buffer and the proximity data buffer. If the quantityof data stored in the touch data buffer is greater than a touchthreshold value, and a quantity of data stored in the proximity databuffer is at or below a proximity threshold value, the microcontroller208 activates a function of the electronic device 102. The touchthreshold value is any predetermined value and, likewise, the proximitythreshold value is any predetermined value. It should be noted that thetouch and proximity sensors operate independently and, thus, theirthreshold values are independent as well. For example, either the touchthreshold value or the proximity threshold value may be zero, one or twoetc. The function of electronic device 102 is any function associatedwith the electronic device, for example, turning on the display screen104, activating a particular application, making a phone call, readingan email, etc.

Thus, the microcontroller 208 depicts that the double tap received was areal double tap from finger and not an un-intentional touch or false tapof random motion, and therefore the particular function of theelectronic device 102 is activated. The real double tap refers to agenuine or accurate double tap which is not caused by an un-intentionaltouch or tap. Further, activating the function of the electronic device102, the microcontroller 208 de-activates the touch sensor 204 and theproximity sensor 206 and waits for another input signal.

On the other hand, if the quantity of data stored in the touch databuffer is at or below the threshold value, it is assumed that there wasno double tap received and the touch input or the tap event was a falseevent. Also, if the quantity of data stored in both the touch databuffer and the proximity data buffer is greater than a threshold, themicrocontroller 208 does not activate a function of the electronicdevice 102 and it is assumed that there was no double tap received andthe touch input or the tap event was a false event, e.g. when theelectronic device is in pocket. In both the above cases, the function ofthe electronic device 102 is not activated and the microcontroller 208de-activates the touch sensor 204 and the proximity sensor 206 and waitsfor another input signal.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for a method 300 for activating a function of anelectronic device 102. Referring to FIG. 3, the method 300 begins with astep of detecting 302 a first input by a motion sensor 202. The motionsensor 202 is a device that is sensitive to movement. For example, if afinger or a stylus is tapped over a display 104 of the electronic device102, the motion sensor 202 detects the respective movement of theelectronic device 102. In one example, the motion sensor 202 is anaccelerometer that measures acceleration. Further, the first input maybe any form of motion input detected by the motion sensor 202 of theelectronic device 102.

On detecting 302 the first input, the motion sensor 202 interrupts themicrocontroller 208 via an electrical connector and signals themicrocontroller 208 about the detected first input. The microcontroller208 then activates 304 a touch sensor 204 of the electronic device 102.Further, the microcontroller 208 also activates a proximity sensor 206of the electronic device 102 in response to detecting 302 the firstinput. The touch sensor 204 is associated with the display 104, i.e.,the touch-sensitive screen of the electronic device 102. The proximitysensor 206 is a sensor that is able to detect the presence of nearbyobjects without any physical contact. The proximity sensor 206 emits anelectromagnetic or electrostatic field, or a beam of electromagneticradiation (infrared, for instance), and looks for changes in the fieldor return signal. The proximity sensor 206 is basically used to preventthe touch sensitive screen from being turned on if the electronic device102 is in pocket.

In another embodiment, the motion sensor 202 is directly wired with thetouch sensor 204 and the proximity sensor 206. In such a case, themotion sensor 202 directly activates the touch sensor 204 and theproximity sensor 206.

The method 300 then moves to a step of detecting 306 a second input bythe motion sensor 202 within a predetermined time period from the firstinput. The second may be any form of input detected by the motion sensor202 of the electronic device 102. For example, the second input mayinclude a tap input. Further, the predetermined time period in oneexample is, but not limited to, 200-500 milliseconds.

On detecting 306 the second input within the predetermined time periodfrom the first input, the motion sensor 202 again interrupts themicrocontroller 208 via an electrical connector to indicate thedetection of the second input. The method 300 then moves to a step ofdetermining 308, by the microcontroller 208, in response to detecting306 the second input by the motion sensor 202, whether a contact hasoccurred at the touch sensor 204. The microcontroller 208 alsodetermines whether activity has occurred in proximity of the proximitysensor 206.

With respect to the touch sensor 204, the microcontroller 208specifically determines if the contact has occurred at the touch sensor204 since activating the touch sensor 204. The microcontroller 208determines this by determining if a touch data buffer (not shown)associated with the touch sensor 204 indicates that the contact hasoccurred at the touch sensor 204. The touch data buffer is used totemporarily store data associated with the touch sensor 204. Themicrocontroller 208 determines whether a quantity of data stored by thetouch data buffer is above a threshold value. In accordance with theembodiment, the threshold value is any predetermined value, for example,zero, one, two, etc. If the contact has occurred at the touch sensor204, the quantity of data stored by the touch data buffer is above thethreshold value. However, if no contact has been occurred at the touchsensor 204, the quantity of data stored by the touch data sensor is notabove the threshold value.

Further, with respect to the proximity sensor 206, the microcontroller208 determines whether activity has occurred in the proximity of theproximity sensor 206 or not. For this, the microcontroller 208determines if a proximity data buffer associated with the proximitysensor 206 indicates that the activity has occurred in the proximity ofthe proximity sensor. More particularly, if the activity has occurred inthe proximity of the proximity sensor, the quantity of data stored inthe proximity data buffer is above a threshold value. For example, thethreshold value is zero, one, two, etc. On the other hand, if noactivity has occurred in the proximity of the proximity sensor 206, thequantity of data stored in the proximity data buffer is at or belowthreshold value.

Further, the method 300 activates 310 a function of the electronicdevice 102 in response to determining that the contact has occurred atthe touch sensor 202 and no activity has occurred in the proximity ofthe proximity sensor 204. The function of electronic device 102 is anyfunction associated with the electronic device, for example, turning onthe display 104, activating a particular application, making a phonecall, reading an email, etc. Therefore, the function of the electronicdevice 102 is activated in case the quantity of data stored by the touchdata buffer is above the threshold value and the quantity of data storedin the proximity sensor is at or below the threshold value.

Thus, the function of the electronic device 102 is only activated afterconfirming that the detected first input and the second input is a realdouble tap and is not generated due to some false tap or un-intentionaltouch event. The real double tap refers to a genuine or accurate doubletap which is not caused by an un-intentional touch or tap. Thus, thefalsing can be eliminated to a great extent and the false detection ofdouble tap due to vibrational motion is eliminated. In other words, onekey advantage of the methods and apparatuses of this invention is toallow the electronic device 102 to differentiate between the occurrencesof a light touch on the display 104, which can occur with very littlephysical contact force, and a real double tap on the display 104, whichoccurs with substantial mechanical force.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly,the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativerather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present teachings.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is definedsolely by the appended claims including any amendments made during thependency of this application and all equivalents of those claims asissued.

Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second,top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish oneentity or action from another entity or action without necessarilyrequiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between suchentities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”,“having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has,includes, contains a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by“comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . .a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises, has, includes and/or contains the element. Theterms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly statedotherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”,“approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined asbeing close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and inone non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, inanother embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and inanother embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein isdefined as connected, although not necessarily directly and notnecessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” ina certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also beconfigured in ways that are not listed.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one ormore generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors andfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored programinstructions (including both software and firmware) that control the oneor more processors to implement, in conjunction with certainnon-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of themethod and/or apparatus described herein. Alternatively, some or allfunctions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of the two approaches could be used.

Moreover, an embodiment can be implemented as a computer-readablestorage medium having computer readable code stored thereon forprogramming a computer (e.g., comprising a processor) to perform amethod as described and claimed herein. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storagedevice, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read OnlyMemory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flashmemory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill,notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choicesmotivated by, for example, available time, current technology, andeconomic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principlesdisclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such softwareinstructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A method comprising: receiving, by at least oneprocessor of an electronic device, from a first sensor of the electronicdevice, a first interrupt signal indicating that the first sensordetected a first sensor input; responsive to receiving the firstinterrupt signal, activating, by the at least one processor, a secondsensor of the electronic device that detects intentional andunintentional user inputs; receiving, by the at least one processor,from the first sensor, a second interrupt signal indicating that thefirst sensor detected a second sensor input; determining, by the atleast one processor, based on the first interrupt signal and the secondinterrupt signal, that the second sensor has detected an intentionaluser input that activates a function of the electronic device; andresponsive to determining that the second sensor has detected theintentional user input, activating, by the at least one processor, thefunction of the electronic device.
 22. The method of claim 21, whereindetermining that the second sensor has detected the intentional userinput is in response to determining that the second interrupt signal wasreceived within a predetermined time period after the first interruptsignal.
 23. The method of claim 21, wherein the function of theelectronic device is activated further in response to determining that arespective quantity of data stored by a data buffer associated with atleast one of the first sensor or the second sensor satisfies arespective quantity threshold.
 24. The method of claim 21, wherein thefunction of the electronic device is activated further in response todetermining that the second sensor has detected the intentional userinput since activating the touch sensor.
 25. The method of claim 21,wherein the first sensor is a motion sensor.
 26. The method of claim 21,wherein the second sensor is a touch sensor and the intentional userinput is a contact at the touch sensor.
 27. The method of claim 21,wherein the second sensor is a proximity sensor and the intentional userinput is activity detected by the proximity sensor.
 28. The method ofclaim 21, wherein the at least one processor is a microcontroller of theelectronic device.
 29. An electronic device comprising: a first sensorconfigured to generate a respective interrupt signal in response todetecting sensor inputs; at least one second sensor that, whenactivated, is configured to detect intentional and unintentional userinputs; and a microcontroller configured to: receive, from the firstsensor, a first interrupt signal indicating that the first sensordetected a first sensor input; responsive to receiving the firstinterrupt signal, activate the at least one second sensor of theelectronic device; receive, from the first sensor, a second interruptsignal indicating that the first sensor detected a second sensor input;determine, based on the first interrupt signal and the second interruptsignal, that the at least one second sensor has detected an intentionalinput that activates a function of the electronic device; and responsiveto determining that that the at least one second sensor has detected theintentional input, activate the function of the electronic device. 30.The electronic device of claim 29, wherein the first sensor is anaccelerometer.
 31. The electronic device of claim 29, wherein the atleast one second sensor is a touch sensor associated with atouch-sensitive screen of the electronic device and the intentionalinput is a contact at the touch-sensitive screen.
 32. The electronicdevice of claim 29, wherein the at least one second sensor is aproximity sensor and the intentional user input is activity detected bythe proximity sensor.
 33. The electronic device of claim 29, wherein themicrocontroller is further configured to determine that the at least onesecond sensor has detected the intentional user input in response todetermining that the second interrupt signal was received within apredetermined time period after the first interrupt signal.
 34. Theelectronic device of claim 29, further comprising at least onerespective data buffer, wherein the microcontroller is furtherconfigured to activate the function of the electronic device in responseto determining that a quantity of data stored by the data buffersatisfies a quantity threshold.
 35. The electronic device of claim 29,wherein the microcontroller is further configured to activate thefunction of the electronic device further in response to determiningthat the second sensor has detected the intentional user input sinceactivating the touch sensor.
 36. A computing device comprising: a motionsensor; a touch sensor; and at least one processor configured to:receive, from the motion sensor, a first interrupt signal indicatingthat the motion sensor detected a first tap input; responsive toreceiving the first interrupt signal, activate the touch sensor;receive, from the motion sensor, a second interrupt signal indicatingthat the motion sensor detected a second tap input; determine, based onthe first interrupt signal and the second interrupt signal, that acontact has occurred at the touch sensor; and responsive to determiningthat that the contact has occurred at the touch sensor, activate thefunction of the computing device.
 37. The computing device of claim 36,further comprising a proximity sensor, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: responsive to receiving the firstinterrupt signal, activate the proximity sensor; determine, based on thefirst interrupt signal and the second interrupt signal, that activityhas occurred at the proximity sensor; and responsive to determining thatthat the activity has occurred at the touch sensor, activate thefunction of the computing device.
 38. The computing device of claim 36,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determinethat the touch sensor has detected the contact in response todetermining that the second interrupt signal was received within apredetermined time period after the first interrupt signal.
 39. Thecomputing device of claim 36, further comprising a data bufferassociated with the touch sensor, wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to activate the function of the computing device inresponse to determining that a quantity of touch data stored by the databuffer satisfies a quantity threshold.
 40. The computing device of claim36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to activatethe function of the computing device further in response to determiningthat the touch sensor has detected the contact since activating thetouch sensor.